


Dante's Hero

by findthemaze



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: From Dante's POV, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 13:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18094784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/findthemaze/pseuds/findthemaze
Summary: Hi so this is Ari & Dante but from the point of view of Dante Quintana! The story is pretty short and is sort of more like a summary. It only goes from the beginning of "The Different Rules of Summer" to the end of "Sparrows Falling From The Sky". Hope you enjoy it!





	Dante's Hero

It was the summer of 1987 when Aristotle Mendoza saved my life.

I first met him that summer when I went to the pool in El Paso to swim. He was floating along the pool alone. He had a look of disgust toward the eighteen year old lifeguards. I could tell he was the kind of boy who loved to keep to himself. I could also tell that he didn’t know how to swim.

_“I can teach you how to swim.”_

We became friends from that moment on, and spent all our time swimming and reading comics and books. Ari and I were an odd couple. We weren’t alike. I hated shoes and he liked them. I was emotional and Ari was tough. I got lost in poetry and art, and Ari got lost in thoughts of his older brother who was in prison. But we did have a few things in common. Like how we both wanted dogs. And our parents didn’t let us watch television during the day. And we both were mostly invisible until the other came along.

My parents took Ari and I to the desert one night to try out our new telescope. I explained the contents of the sky as he looked through the telescope. The sight of the starry night reflected in his eyes, sparkling and bringing joy to a boy who lived in a private universe of hate. As I spoke, I knew that Ari wasn’t listening to anything I said. The vast universe was so beautiful and overwhelming, and I knew that he fell in love. And so did I.

 _“Someday, I’m going to discover all the secrets of the universe,”_ I whispered to him. A small smile started to build on his serious face. That made me smile. I knew that Ari was also seeking the secrets of the universe. He had built walls around himself, for reasons that he didn’t even know himself. Both Ari and I were ashamed of many things in our life; he was ashamed of his brother in prison, and I was ashamed of being gay. That night as we lay in my backyard tangled in the stars, we were both moonstruck.

In late July of 1987, three boys shot a sparrow down. I started to cry as Ari and I stood there staring at the dead sparrow. He looked awkward and I could tell he didn’t know what to do. He asked me, “ _Why do birds exist, anyway?”_

 _“Birds exist to teach us things about the sky,”_ I replied. I thought that if we studied birds, maybe we could learn to be free. Free from mean and stupid boys who didn’t know that birds belonged to the heavens and weren’t meant to be shot down from their graceful flights.

Ari caught the flu the next day, and spent the week in bed. He mentioned having bad dreams, but I didn’t ask. When I visited him, I brought a book of poems, a sketch pad, and some charcoal pencils. The afternoon sun streamed into his room, bringing some light to a sad and solitary boy. I tossed Ari the book of poems I’d brought along as I pulled out my charcoal pencils and sketch pad. My eyes searched everything in the room: Ari, the bed, the rocking chair, the light. He looked nervous and awkward and self-conscious. I decided to sketch his chair.

The day of the incident, we sat in my house drinking tea and watching the rain fall on my front porch. The sky was almost black and it started to hail. It was so beautiful and scary. I thought about how sometimes it seemed that a storm wanted to break the world and how the world refused to break. Just like Ari.

I knew I had to talk to him, so I suggested going on a walk outside after the hail storm. We walked barefoot on the slippery sidewalk, feeling the breeze against our faces and in our hair. Thunder clapped in the distance.

I was told that my family was moving to Chicago for a year. Away from El Paso for a year. Away from Ari. I was angry. I had no control, I couldn’t do anything enough to stay. When my parents asked, I told them that I didn’t want to miss swimming for a year, but I was lying. I couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing Ari every day.

 _“We’re leaving for a year,”_ I said.

Ari looked like he had just been punched in the gut. He didn't look at me. He just looked at the sky. A million emotions ran through my head and I couldn’t tell what I was thinking or feeling. I looked away from him and tried to smile. That’s when I saw it. A bird lying in the middle of the street. One of its wings was broken, but it was still trying to fly. It couldn’t be free in its graceful flight, and it reminded me of me.

I walked into the middle of the street and tried to pick up the frightened bird. Ari watched me. I heard the sound of a car swerving around the corner as I stood in the middle of the street holding a bird with a broken wing. I stood there frozen. Unable to move. The world was a blur and from the corner of my eye, I saw Ari diving at me like some kind of football player diving at the guy with the ball. I felt Ari pushing me out of the way. It was the fastest but longest moment of my life. The world was a mix of black and blue and ...red? My emotions were a blur. Guilt. Pain. Ari. Ari?

I remember hearing Ari scream my name.

_“Dante!”_


End file.
